The present invention generally relates to computerized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a route approval process in an ERP system.
Enterprise resource planning (or ERP) is a phrase used to describe a broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business. Computerized ERP systems typically integrate and automate various activity modules internal to a business or organization, such as planning, manufacturing, production, distribution, inventory, sales, shipping, order tracking, invoicing, accounting, customer service, marketing and human resource management. Not all ERP systems integrate all of these activities, but the trend is to integrate more and more business activities. Often, an ERP system uses or is integrated with a relational database system. An example of an ERP system is Microsoft® Business Solutions-Axapta®.
Each activity module managed by an ERP system includes transactions or documents. Transactions or documents include information or data that describes processes that occur internal to a business or organization. Many businesses, such as those in the pharmaceutical or biomedical industries, have certain processes that are critical processes and need to be approved before they can be implemented as an activity of the business. Such critical processes are highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other agencies. These agencies require that implementation of new processes, as well as modifications to processes as well as deletions of processes, are signed off by a representative or multiple authorized representatives of the pharmaceutical, biomedical or other life science business. Examples of such critical processes in the pharmaceutical or biomedical industries include bill of materials (BOM) and routes.
A “BOM” is a list of materials utilized in the manufacture of a specific product, essentially a recipe for production of an item. A “route” is a description of the process, or order in which things must be done, when producing an item using a BOM. When handling a BOM or a route in these heavily regulated industries, there are numerous aspects to manage. For example, when developing a new BOM or route, unintentional use must be prevented. Then, when the development of the BOM or route is finished, it must be released for general use. However, even when released for general use, the BOM or route should be locked to prevent unintentional changes. Further, a verification process can be required in some instances to ensure that the person approving the BOM or route has authority to do so. Also, records of attempted changes to the BOM or route may need to be kept.
Generally, information related to a critical process, such as a BOM or route, is stored in the ERP system in the form of a transaction or document. To approve such a process or a modification to a process, the document is printed out and manually signed and dated by an individual or multiple individuals who are allowed to make such approvals. The document is then stored in a safe place that is readily available such that copies can be made of the approved document. For example, a working copy of the originally signed document can be made for those needing to complete a specific job shown or discussed in the document. After the job is complete, the working copy is destroyed such that only one original exists.
This manual approval process ensures a history or audit trail that describes the lifecycle of data by storing old versions of an approved document as well as storing modified versions of a document. However, such a paper trail is difficult to manage. Original documents can easily become misplaced. Thus, to ensure that the history of critical data is fully documented, keeping and storing additional copies of the original documents is practiced.
While ERP systems are widely used in business to manage the various functions of a company, there has been a need in some environments to employ separate software systems for BOM and route management. Some available BOM and route software systems provide electronic signature controlled management of BOMs and routes. However, using BOM or route software systems, separate from an ERP system which manages a broader scope of business activities, can be problematic and undesirable. It is desirable that BOM and route data be available for use in other modules of the ERP system, but integrating the separate BOM and route systems with the ERP system can require extensive programming.